Fine Gael TD Noel Rock challenged Scarlett Johansson to a debate during a stint working for the potential first female president of the United States.

The Dublin North West Deputy worked for Hillary Clinton during her time as New York Senator, after he secured a place on the prestigious Washington Programme at university.

He was invited back the following year to work on her primary campaign for the Democratic nomination against Barack Obama in 2008, the beginning of a surreal journey that saw him rubbing shoulders with America’s political and celebrity elite.

Mr Rock told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I was working alongside people from universities that I’d only ever heard of on the TV.

“These people from Harvard and Yale and all these great colleges. And a little 18-year-old lad from North Dublin, competing with the best of them.

“But compete I did and it went well. I got invited to continue my work on her primary campaign the following year.”